This was delightfully creepy - and that was another thing missing from issue one. This issue went back to a former X-Files and just made it even more disturbing. (I do have to rewatch that episode, and now that I think of it, a couple other favorites. On Netflix.)

Apparently I can live with issue two not resolving any of my other issues, so long as it's delightfully creepy. Onto number three, and I'm eager to get to it now.

Despite not only abandoning X-Files, and watching the later seasons only recently, I considered myself a fan long after I stopped watching. A disappointed fan. I read an article in the newspaper that I don't think I'll ever forget about the finale, that was describing watching the ending like being forced to put a beloved animal - a dog in this case - to sleep after a long bout of a very painful disease. You're sad to see it go, but on the other hand glad the pain will finally be over for everyone.

And while I laughed, this justified my decision to stop watching, something I'd had doubts about before. Would I be considered a fan even after jumping ship? I didn't buy any of the merchandise or books or really trust anything set in the later seasons, or advertising them. But I still adored, even idolized the earlier seasons. And something fell into place reading that review: I was still a fan, even if no one but me knew that fact.

When the Humble Bundle for The X-Files popped up, I bought it twice, once for me, and once for a friend. I didn't hesitate to buy it for her even before reading anything from this, and as it happened, I wouldn't read anything until much later.

I regret this now. The X-Files's tenth season was amazing, and I've said it for Buffy and Angel and I'll say it here: I love that TV shows that are too expensive to continue filming have a new life in comics. It blends my fandom love, me desire for new material from my favorite fandoms, and my love of comics. And when the creators - like Chris Carter and Joss Whedon - are so invested in their creations, they tend to not only get involved in the comics, but ensure they live up the excellent standards they set. I actually don't know how involved Carter was in the X-Files and am assuming based on the quality of the post-TV Buffy seasons and how involved Whedon was with them. Maybe he wasn't involved, but someone who loved The X-Files dearly was, and given that it has so far been the most resonant show that Carter has created himself, I would bet he'd be involved. (I would if I had created a show that I cared deeply about and it was continuing as a comic book series, but I love both TV and comics, so...)

This is a long, rambling intro to say that if you are an X-Files fan this combines the best of the show. The humor, the warmth, the conspiracies, the standalone episodes and a more extended plotline that promises to continue into season eleven. It's all there, and it all fits, and it makes me wonder who's going to be involved further on and what will happen in later seasons. (I never could get it right during the show and I haven't been able to so far in these comics. Just more to love as it keeps me on my toes.)

This continues on, but manages to nail the excitement and paranoia of the earlier seasons without retconning out the last couple of seasons. (With the exception of many characters returning from the dead, and while it seems like it's building up to a longer storyline, it takes away from the power of the deaths on the show by making death malleable. At least when MTMtE does this same thing, it adds another emotional element that makes me feel as strongly, if not more stronger, than the character death is or would be when there are miracle saves.)

Still, the art is fantastic, the storylines continue to entrance me, and I'm looking forward to the fifth - and I believe final - volume of this season.

But then again, so was the X-Files. And I don't mean mess in that they couldn't keep up the narrative, I just mean that it's so snarly and convoluted, I have trouble keeping up with what's really happening. It's also kind of the point: you don't really know what's going on or who's really behind everything or who you can trust. (Mulder, Scully and Skinner being a couple exceptions.)

Although, I think not reading this right when you wake up might help. Despite my mistake in timing, this was amazing. The art is slick and matches the dark, even dreary, tone of the show. (Or maybe I just felt it was dreary as Mulder's search for his sister dragged on during the original seasons, and I felt like he might never get his answers. This depressed me very much when I believed that to be true.)

The one complaint I have is that they keep on bringing back dead characters, and it starts being like, 'oh, and you're alive, yawn.' It takes the shock out of the moment, leaving me unsurprised and unfulfilled. But this is so good, I still have to favorite it. It's amazing! No, seriously!

Love, love, love!

And I think this is a variant cover, but how good is this depiction of Scully?

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